{{ mainName }}

{{ newsTitle }} {{ newsVisible ? '✦' : '✧'}}

    • NTC Award Ceremony
      New Talent Competition gives young filmmakers from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe the opportunity to present their outstanding debut or second film to the public. Join us on Sunday 1 December at 19h
    • Music at ENFF
      The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival welcomes special musical guests each year to enrich our program. For this 16th edition, we’re thrilled to present two talented young musicians: guitarist Antonio Peršak (CR) and violinist İdil Yunkuş (TR). Together, they will perform a traditional Balkan dance and folk song, highlighting the beauty of this music through the… Read more: Music at ENFF
    • Masterclass with Janez Burger
      This masterclass presents a unique opportunity to explore Burger's distinct storytelling style, genre use, and exploration of contemporary social issues. Join us on Saturday 30 November at 17h - Room 5
    • Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema
      Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema on Friday 29 November at 18h

The Land of Aliens

dir. OLGA CHERNYKH 

DUTCH PREMIERE

A short sci-fi drama about an enemy invasion of a peaceful land.

An amateur astronomer experiences the last peaceful day on his land before the invasion of “aliens”. He has to choose: to stay in his place, surrounded by invaders, or to leave all he has and fly away into the unknown. The story is told in a fairy-tale manner, but the constructed world accurately recalls today’s world.

SHOWTIMES | Special Feature: New Talents Competition 2 with Falling, Mammoth, The Most Beautiful Corner in the World & Tiny Summer Trilogy
– Special Guests: directors Dordije Petrovic and Anna Gyimesi

Saturday, 25 November – 16:00


Sunday, 26 November – 10:30

Buy Tickets Here!

THE LAND OF ALIENS | 2023 | 19 min| Ukraine

PRODUCTIONAnzhela Sokol, Iryna Nikonchuk
CASTYurii Kulinich, Alisa Kliushkina, Ihor Shcherbak, Maksym Burlaka
SCREENPLAYMaryna Brodovska
CINEMATOGRAPHYYevhen Sakhno
EDITINGHanna Perepelitsa
LANGUAGEUkrainian
SUBTITLESEnglish

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This project was written as a personal reflection on the conflict that was going on in the Eastern part of Ukraine, where I’m originally from. War and “aliens” came to my city – Donetsk and stayed for 8 years. Now after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Donbas has become the hottest spot in the war and probably the bloodiest place in the whole world. My family had to move in 2015 and leave our home and our lives. In 2022 we were forced to flee again. So as a director of the film, I deeply understand the feelings of the main character. We (me and Maryna – the scriptwriter of the film) had an intention to show such experience and talk about the problem of leaving home in a fairytale way, creating a world of non-existing states and languages, using “aliens” as a metaphor for all the invaders.

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Olga was born in Donetsk, Ukraine in 1990. In 2017, she graduated with an MA from the Cinematography department of the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi University and worked as a director of photography on various Ukrainian and international fiction and documentary projects. She received a postgraduate diploma in “Documentary Filmmaking” and is an alumni of a Sergey Bukovsky film course. She has taken part in several international workshops and residency programs such as IDFA Academy, the “Aristoteles Workshop” in Romania, “Cinemaambulente” in Italy, “Eurasiadoc” in Kyiv and B2B Docs. She was awarded a Special prize for her short video “Express Your Taste” in the International “Papaya Young Directors” competition in Poland; and received a cinematography award for the same video at the “Kinooko” festival in Kyiv.